I’m A Celebrity host Declan Donnelly has said this year’s jungle competition is "tinged with sadness" with the absence of Ant McPartlin.

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However, Dec – who had hosted the reality show with Ant since its first series in 2002 – ­revealed he expected his usual presenting partner to return “stronger” after his extended absence from screens.

“As always I’m incredibly excited to be heading to Oz for I’m A Celebrity,” he told The Sun.

“It is obviously tinged with sadness that Ant won’t be coming this year, I’m going to really miss him, but it’s only for one series and he’ll be back stronger next year.”

Dec also revealed new co-host Holly Willoughby was his choice to step in. “I didn’t want to host this series with another guy so Holly was top of my list,” he said.

But Dec also said Willoughby would have to “toughen up” when the series starts, with the This Morning presenter having an acute fear of I’m a Celeb’s creepy crawlies.

“I had heard Holly was a bit scared and then saw her doing a Bushtucker Trial on her last day on This Morning which involved a toy spider and some kittens and she nearly cried doing that,” he said.

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Unfortunately for Willoughby, she doesn’t have much time to prepare herself: the new series starts on Sunday 19th November (9pm) on ITV.

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

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